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Showing posts with the label Mahayana Buddhism

Atisha's Heart Advice and The Highest Teachings...

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  "Buddhanature is the inn ate primordial freedom of the mind, which is naturally imbued with wisdom, compassion, power, and bliss."         Karl Brunnholzl "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."    Steven Covey

6 Paramitas with a 7 Minute Video Below...

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  "Buddhanature is the innate primordial freedom of the mind, which is naturally imbued with wisdom, compassion, power, and bliss."         Karl Brunnholzl Lion's Roar -  In Mahayana Buddhism, the bodhisattva practices the six  paramitas , or transcendent perfections. These are a path to enlightenment, the fruition of the bodhisattva way, and a means to benefit sentient beings. They are transcendent because the subject, object, and practice of the perfections are all free of self, which is known as the threefold purity. 1. Generosity ( dana ) You give without expecting anything in return, the essence of nonattachment. 2. Discipline ( sila ) You joyfully practice the dharma in everything you do. 3. Patience ( ksanti ) You are free of aggression and maintain your equilibrium in the midst of samara’s confusion. 4. Exertion ( virya ) You work hard because you delight in the path and appreciate virtue. Overcoming laziness, you never give up. 5. Meditat...

The Bodhisattva Path: the Six Paramitas...

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  "Buddhanature is the innate primordial freedom of the mind, which is naturally imbued with wisdom, compassion, power, and bliss."         Karl Brunnholzl SOURCE

Pure Land Buddhism for Westerners...

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Stages of the Path: The Bodhisattva Vow...

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Lojong: the Origins and Purpose of Mind Training in Buddhism...

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The Beginnings of Mahayana Buddhism...

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Five hundred years after the Buddha’s death, a radically new version of Buddhism was born and  spread with its new teachings along the Silk Road into China. This new version became known as Mahayana Buddhism, or the “Greater Vehicle.” A look at how the teachings of Shakyamuni entered China, and the dramatic transformations they underwent on their way to Japan. Mahayana Buddhism Takes Form: Anyone Can Become a Buddha Sasaki Shizuka   -  From its  beginnings in India  some 2,500 years ago, Buddhism spread and became influential across a wide area of the subcontinent and Central Asia. The decision of King Ashoka, the third-century ruler of the Maurya dynasty, to become a Buddhist was a pivotal event in the early history of the religion. It is thought that Buddhist teachings were known throughout India and had expanded as far south as Sri Lanka around this time. In Sri Lanka, the religion has survived a turbulent history, and remains today more or less in the origin...

If We Believe...

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  If we believe that mind is continuous, our love for others becomes continuous. If we  recognize this continuity, we don’t trust temporary, tangible circumstances, or take them too seriously.  Since it is tiring to switch between changing uncertainties which are inherently impermanent  and unimportant, we become less easily influenced by any circumstance. This creates the habit  of stability so that our minds are less erratic, our lives are less chaotic, and our feelings for  others are less changeable. If we believe in the continuity of mind, then love inconspicuously connects us to the ones  we love with continuous positive energy, so that even tangible separation between people who  love each other do not reduce the intangible power of love. This love is automatically enduring since  it is not easily affected by circumstances. If we can keep from grasping at others with the selfish fear of losing them or in the ho...

Heart Sutra... translation by Thich Nhat Hanh

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Avalokiteshvara while practicing deeply with the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore, suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all Ill-being. “Listen Sariputra, this Body itself is Emptiness and Emptiness itself is this Body. This Body is not other than Emptiness and Emptiness is not other than this Body. The same is true of Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formations, and Consciousness. “Listen Sariputra, all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness; their true nature is the nature of no Birth no Death, no Being no Non-being, no Defilement no Purity, no Increasing no Decreasing. “That is why in Emptiness, Body, Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formations and Consciousness are not separate self entities. The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena which are the six Sense Organs, the six Sense Objects, and the six Consciousnesses are also not separate self entities. The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising and their Extinction ar...

Pure Land Buddhism...

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